Nazi Bombs, Torpedo Heads and Mines: How Ocean Creatures Thrives on Abandoned Armaments

In the slightly salty sea off the Germany's shoreline rests a collection of Nazi bombs, torpedo heads and naval mines. Thrown off barges at the conclusion of the second world war and left behind, thousands explosives have become matted together over the decades. They create a corroding blanket on the low-depth, silty ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the years, the wartime weapons was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors came to the coastal areas and calm waters for water sports, kiteboarding and entertainment venues. Below the waves, the weapons decayed.

Researchers expected to see a lifeless zone, with no life because it was all toxic, states the lead researcher.

When the initial researchers went looking to see what they were affecting to the marine environment, some of us expected to see a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all contaminated, explains Andrey Vedenin.

What they found amazed them. Vedenin recalls his scientists reacting with shock when the submersible first transmitted footage. It was a memorable occasion, he recalls.

Numerous of marine animals had settled amid the munitions, creating a renewed ecosystem richer than the seabed around it.

This marine city was testament to the resilience of life. Indeed astonishing how much life we find in places that are supposed to be hazardous and dangerous, he states.

Over 40 sea stars had clustered on to one accessible fragment of explosive material. They were residing on metal shells, ignition chambers and storage boxes just centimetres from its dangerous content. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and mussels were all observed on the discarded explosives. It resembles a coral reef in terms of the quantity of fauna that was there, notes Vedenin.

Unexpected Population Density

An mean of more than 40,000 animals were living on every meter squared of the weapons, scientists reported in their study on the observation. The nearby seabed was much sparser, with only 8,000 organisms on every meter squared.

It is paradoxical that items that are intended to eliminate all life are drawing so much marine organisms, states Vedenin. You can see how the natural world evolves after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, life returns to the most hazardous areas.

Man-made Features as Ocean Habitats

Artificial structures such as shipwrecks, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can create substitutes, replacing some of the destroyed marine environment. This research shows that munitions could be similarly positive – the explosion of marine organisms on those in the Bay of Lübeck is probable to be duplicated elsewhere.

Between the late 1940s and the post-war period, 1.6 million tons of munitions were discarded off the German shoreline. Numerous of people transported them in boats; a portion were dropped in specific areas, the remainder just dumped en route. This is the first time scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has adapted.

Global Examples of Ocean Adaptation

• In the US, decommissioned drilling platforms have turned into coral reefs
• Sunken ships from the World War I have become environments for wildlife along the Potomac River in Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become environment to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for marine life as the marine environments are increasingly denuded by commercial fishing, seafloor dredging and boat mooring. Shipwrecks and weapons dump sites essentially function as protected areas – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of anthropogenic disturbance is prohibited, states Vedenin. Consequently a lot of organisms that are usually uncommon or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are thriving.

Coming Factors

Anywhere armed conflict has taken place in the recent history, surrounding seas are often containing munitions, states Vedenin. Many millions of tons of dangerous substances remain in our seas.

The locations of these munitions are poorly mapped, partly because of national borders, secret military information and the situation that documents are buried in old files. They present an explosion and safety hazard, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of toxic chemicals.

As Germany and other countries embark on extracting these artifacts, experts hope to protect the habitats that have developed nearby. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being extracted.

It would be wise to substitute these metal carcasses remaining from munitions with certain more secure, various harmless objects, like perhaps artificial reefs, states Vedenin.

He now wishes that what happens in the Bay of Lübeck sets a model for replacing habitats after explosive extraction elsewhere – because even the most damaging weaponry can become scaffolding for marine organisms.